We all have worries in our lives. Sometimes we worry about money, our income source, or whether a loved one will be safe on a road trip. Most of us deal with these worries well enough that they don't effect our quality of life or interfere in our daily routine, but if you find that your worries are taking over your life, you may want to get checked out for an anxiety disorder. Here are some common anxiety disorders.

When it's not possible to trace your chronic feelings of worry back to any one source, you may have a generalized anxiety disorder. These can be especially difficult to deal with, because the anxiety cannot be avoided by eliminating the stressor. GAD is more common in older adults.

If your anxiety is triggered by very specific objects or events in which you are in no real danger, you may have a phobia. There are many different type of phobias. You might be irrationally terrified of spiders (arachnophobia), small spaces (claustrophobia) or leaving your home (agoraphobia). Dogs, water, and heights are other common phobic triggers.

If you have periods of intense emotional stress - also known as panic attacks - in which you shake, feel ill, have difficulty breathing, and experience dizziness for about ten minutes, you may have a panic disorder. Panic attacks are generally also accompanied by worry over having more attacks and make sufferers hyper-vigilant about their health.

If you were recommended for PTSD therapy after escaping from a traumatic situation such as forced confinement, rape, physical abuse, war, natural disasters, or accidents, you may suffer from hypervigilence, anxiety, and depression or flashbacks.

If you find that you have to go through a certain ritual to get relief from your feelings of anxiety or nervousness, such as aligning the hangars in your closet, counting buttons, checking the doors and windows, or repeatedly washing or cleaning, you may be obsessive compulsive.

If you find yourself nearly paralyzed with worry over being embarrassed in public to the point where you'd rather just avoid being around people altogether and stay home, you may suffer from social anxiety disorder. Symptoms include blushing, sweating, difficulty speaking to others, and an inability to tolerate the eyes of others on you.

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